Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

Hey all! You are all so lovely to reach out here (and my inbox is filled with kindness too).

All is well here. I kinda feel like a jerk just popping in to say "I'm sorry I'm MIA" and "I'm so busy."

However, yes... I am sorry and I have been crazy busy. Work has been relentless for the past 6 months (yay job security!).
I've been generally awful about being kind to myself and allowing little luxuries to make all the efforts more endurable, so I've been working on remedies.
Actually took time off and went on a retreat (think yoga and hiking). I came back with a better outlook. And Covid. Thank goodness it was a mild case bc it really sucked. As in it sucked any desire to not be sleeping out of me. Fortunately I was able to segregate enough from the family and no one else caught it.

Kiddos are great! Eldest is thinking about what career path to delve into or if an advanced degree is a good call. He's got a year before graduation, so lots of conversations have and will continue to happen.
Youngest will be leaving the nest in fall for year 1 of college. He has been working and earning some crazy bank dog walking and sitting.

Hubby and I are looking forward to a trip of a lifetime in late summer (you know the details BGMath!) and I couldn't be happier to have it on the horizon.

The chickens are all in great shape and just such a joy! Naenae sometimes will take a nap on my lap if I can get outside in the afternoon. One day she had stretched out and layed sidewides and just snoozed. It was enough to make my heart burst that she trusts me so implicitly.
Even my most skittish girl, Pingu, is warming up to me. She will hop up and stand next to me when I sit on the bench. I think by end of summer she will crawl on my lap too

I cannot even pretend to be up to date on everyone - but I sure hope life has been kind to each of you.View attachment 3061871
Chicken tax... Piscia peering out of the newest and most desirable place to lay eggs. Who needs nest boxes??

@Lady Red!! So great of you to pop in sbd I’m so glad all is well. I have wondered where you are, but have not been able to keep up on the forums. Sorry I have not reached out. Miss you!

 

[micstrachan]

Today we had the same weather as kris so no chicken photos.
This evening we had a heartbreak. Our beautiful girl Star past away. She was sweet, silly, exasperating, and extra cuddly always. We had her most of her 16.5 years. She hadn't been herself the last week, tonight she left us rather suddenly with both of us holding her.

So sorry you lost her, but glad you were there to comfort her in the end.

 

[micstrachan]

I am trying to catch up but it’s difficult. Where is Bob and is he seriously considering bringing home hatching eggs? What kind from where?

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Me too!
View attachment 3065088
The late Buffy.

View attachment 3065087
My new girls.

Your new girls are pretty. I have 3 young buff girls as well. My mom needed more Butter's when we got Ezzie her sisters.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Agreed. Even without me having had Marans before....those are clearly boys given they are only 3 weeks old. On the bright side...she hatched one girl ( better than a zero , right, @RebeccaBoyd )

The other chick not pictured is a silkie, it is Branch and Chiquita's baby. She is in the same boat I am with that one. Will be a few months before she knows what it is.

 

[micstrachan]

Nettie Metcalf (since I was just browsing again about buckeyes it's in my brain). Yes and no, yes, she was breeding for a dark red color, but for a small frost-bite resistant comb and to be dual-purpose. She was doing it prior to the Rhode Island Red development, and purportedly later gave some of her birds to the RIR developers to improve their stock.

Wait, are you sure? I am quite sure I have read that she called them pea combed RIRs so they already existed. I think they just weren’t popular.

Nettie Metcalf (since I was just browsing again about buckeyes it's in my brain). Yes and no, yes, she was breeding for a dark red color, but for a small frost-bite resistant comb and to be dual-purpose. She was doing it prior to the Rhode Island Red development, and purportedly later gave some of her birds to the RIR developers to improve their stock.

Wait, are you sure? I am quite sure I read that she was wanting pea combed RIRs (mahogany), but they were not popular at the time. I’m pretty sure they (RIRs) existed?

 

[micstrachan]

Sorry about that double post. I’m having so much trouble on my phone lately, especially since I stopped for the removal of the adds and everything jumps around on my screen.

 

[featherhead007]

Maybe you need to return home through Canada....import the eggs to Canada, then 'smuggle' them across the border as 'food', not hatching eggs. 2 dozen, even if only 75% hatch rate would give you 18. As long as you have eggs from a few different lines, that would be enough to establish them here with some genetic diversity......

Some Canadian boarder guard, is taking notes reading this post, and will be tightening up security

 

[micstrachan]

Wait, are you sure? I am quite sure I have read that she called them pea combed RIRs so they already existed. I think they just weren’t popular.

Wait, are you sure? I am quite sure I read that she was wanting pea combed RIRs (mahogany), but they were not popular at the time. I’m pretty sure they (RIRs) existed?

Well, here it is from Nettie Metcalf herself. It seems what I have read has been inaccurate, but I can see where the RIR confusion arose from.
http://www.americanbuckeyepoultryclub.com/BuckeyeHistory2.html

 

[micstrachan]

Rosie might have stayed up until 12:30 this morning doing her 4-H project but she came home with a blue ribbon and moves onto the county fair in May. Also a month ago her grade took the PSATs for the first time. There was a incentive in math that any student who scored a 450 or better received a $50 gift card. I told her to try her best, but if she got a 450 I would match the $50. The math teacher announced their scores today over lunch and named the students who will get a gift card at the beginning of next school year. I owe my child some money.

Congrats to Rosie!